Harvey Milk Festival announces music lineup

Harvey Milk Festival has announced this year’s lineup of musicians, headlined by a performer whose guest star-filled new album will be released that weekend.

The ninth annual festival takes place May 10-12, concluding with a free concert at Five Points Park in downtown Sarasota on the last day.

SSION, the electronic pop music project of artist Cody Critcheloe, headlines the day after releasing new record “O,” featuring appearances from Sky Ferreira, Ariel Pink, Devendra Banhart and Hole’s Patty Schemel. Critcheloe is also a filmmaker who’s directed music videos for Grizzly Bear and Perfume Genius and an artist who did the album artwork for Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Fever to Tell.”

Another headliner is Atlanta rock group Starbenders, who’ve worked with Lady Gaga’s former music director Nico Constantine and open for Alice in Chains the same week as Harvey Milk Festival. They share the bill with fellow Atlanta group Indee Killed the Pop Star.

Rounding out the list of headliners is Orlando R&B singer DVWEZ, whose music The Fader called “a tantalizing transmission from another universe where the ’80s never ended but love still beguiles us all.” Other out-of-town Florida acts performing include Miami chillwave musician Firstworld and Orlando rockers Gary Lazer Eyes.

Several Sarasota-Manatee acts will perform, including a reunion show by the Equines, an indie-rock group featuring Erin Murphy of Teach Me Equals. They’re joined by Sam Woolf, the “American Idol” finalist who graduated from Braden River High School, Parrish indie band Youth Antics, New College hip-hop collective N.E. Bodied Entertainment and the group Divine AF.

The three-day Harvey Milk Festival will also feature art and theater events. The festival’s mission is to celebrate the life of Harvey Milk, one of the first openly gay Americans elected to public office, by fostering emerging talent in musicians and artists who support diversity and reject discrimination.